Buckley Laura, Berta Whitney, Cleverley Kristin, Widger Kimberley
Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Front Pediatr. 2022 Mar 17;10:851001. doi: 10.3389/fped.2022.851001. eCollection 2022.
Pediatric nurses care for some of the most vulnerable patients in our healthcare system and are vulnerable to the impact of the stress of their work on their well-being. Burnout is a potential response to chronic interpersonal stressors and a negative work outcome linked to personal and professional consequences. A thorough understanding of the experience and factors associated with burnout in this population is an important part of developing interventions to mitigate or prevent this workplace outcome. Therefore, our study objectives were to: (1) explain and expand our understanding of pediatric critical care nurses experience of burnout in relation to their work environment and work engagement; (2) provide recommendations for nursing administrators to improve nurses' work environment, work attitudes, and work outcomes.
A convenience sample of pediatric critical care nurses from a large pediatric quaternary care hospital in Ontario, Canada were invited to participate in this second phase of a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, with and main themes and subthemes distilled through the method of interpretive description.
A total of 18 PICU/CCCU/NICU nurses participated. Derived themes included the experience and identification of burnout, including its prevalence and elusiveness. Their experiences of quality of work-life included themes such as compensation, emotional support at work, respect, their professional identity, and spill over into home life. They discussed components of work engagement, including the work itself, investment into their growth and development, and the meaning of their work. The self-care subthemes included the importance of preparation and recovery, and the use of physical and mental separation as a preservation strategy. The participants' recommendations for strategies to mitigate burnout were also summarized.
Burnout is a complex and regularly occurring experience for pediatric critical care nurses. Although the experience may be difficult to self-identify, the impacts on the individuals are profound. Further research and organizational support are needed to test practical and evidence-based interventions to improve the well-being of this population.
儿科护士护理着医疗系统中一些最脆弱的患者，且容易受到工作压力对其幸福感的影响。职业倦怠是对慢性人际压力源的一种潜在反应，是一种与个人和职业后果相关的负面工作结果。深入了解这一人群中与职业倦怠相关的经历和因素，是制定减轻或预防这种工作场所结果的干预措施的重要组成部分。因此，我们的研究目标是：（1）解释并扩展我们对儿科重症监护护士职业倦怠经历与其工作环境和工作投入之间关系的理解；（2）为护理管理人员提供建议，以改善护士的工作环境、工作态度和工作成果。
邀请了加拿大安大略省一家大型儿科四级护理医院的儿科重症监护护士作为便利样本，参与这项序列解释性混合方法研究的第二阶段。进行了半结构化访谈，并通过解释性描述方法提炼出主要主题和子主题。
共有18名儿科重症监护病房/心脏重症监护病房/新生儿重症监护病房护士参与。得出的主题包括职业倦怠的经历和识别，包括其普遍性和难以捉摸性。他们对工作生活质量的体验包括薪酬、工作中的情感支持、尊重、职业认同感以及对家庭生活的影响等主题。他们讨论了工作投入的组成部分，包括工作本身、对自身成长和发展的投入以及工作的意义。自我护理子主题包括准备和恢复的重要性，以及将身心分离作为一种保护策略。还总结了参与者对减轻职业倦怠策略的建议。
职业倦怠是儿科重症监护护士复杂且经常出现的经历。尽管这种经历可能难以自我识别，但对个人的影响却很深远。需要进一步的研究和组织支持，以测试切实可行且基于证据的干预措施，来改善这一人群的幸福感。
